Eleven bonded labourers including nine women rescued from Thane district

Thane: As many as eleven bonded labourers including nine women have been rescued in Thane district, police said on Tuesday.

They were working for a brick kiln owner at Tembhavli in Chimbipada area of Bhiwandi tehsil for more than eight years, said an official.

Bhiwandi Executive Magistrate and Tehsildar Adhik S Patil on Tuesday handed over an order for rehabilitation under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, to them.

Bhiwandi taluka police has registered a case against kiln owner Siddhik Hussain Shaikh under the Act as well as relevant IPC sections and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) act, said the police official.

The rescued labourers were from Jawhar, Dahanu, Boisar and other parts of the neighbouring Palghar district. As per the complaint, Shaikh paid them very little wages, sometimes kept them starving and beat them up. They could not leave his premises.